outcome of the negotiations, but as secretary geithner said over the weekend, as, i think, president obama conveyed in the interview today with bloomberg tv, he remains confident we can get this done. he remains optimistic that once republicans accept that there is no deal without an acknowledgement and acceptance that rates have to go up on higher end earners that, well, we can find a compromise here that resolves the fiscal cliff and takes a very important step towards the kind of broad balanced deficit reduction package that do enormous good to the economy. the kind of package i should not leave out with targeting investments so the economy continues to grow and create jobs. as i said on occasions, deficit reduction in and of itself is not a goal, but part of the plan that is focused on economic growth and job creation. president's very focused on that. jay? >> just a second ago, you referred to how the debt ceiling, taking it off the table, needs to be part of the deal. you referred to the economy, you called held hostage by the ideological team. you were aware of this, senator obama w